Another case in Tennessee involved inmate George Hyatte, who used a smuggled cell phone to coordinate the murder of a prison guard.

"The whole issue with contraband is a public safety issue," Dotson said.

Correctional officers said inmates and their accomplices on the outside will continue to find ways to beat methods of detection and prevention as long as there is a market for cellphones and a means to make calls from behind bars.

While TDOC punishes inmates caught with contraband...they're also working with local law enforcement on the outside to go after people who help smuggle in those items.

The social media accounts of the inmates featured in those live Facebook videos have been shut down, at least the ones investigators know about.

According to data collected by Securus Technologies - a provider of civil and criminal justice technology solutions for public safety, investigation, corrections, and monitoring - within the past year, almost 1.7 million illegal communication attempts were made from just eight correctional facilities around the country.

One facility reported more than 107,000 contraband phone call attempts in just a two-month time period.

Each of those calls was tracked and stopped following Securus Wireless Containment Solution activation.